Maleficent Rated: PG

Barbara Says:

Disney films....I am a real fan.  Always have been and always will be.  When  I saw Maleficent the first time (twice,so far) I said this is Disney`s best.  I really like the way they are turning the fairy tales on their heads.  Giving us a new view on them and thus a new life for them to new generations.  The love story of a young fairy who is betrayed and turns vengeful is very well done.  But the master piece here is Maleficent played to a high art by Angelina Jolie at her very best.  But the real love story turns out to be between her and the child she cursed.  The battles between her and the King are fantastic and colorful and very well done.  The whole movie is beautiful and moving.  If you do not know the story of Sleeping Beauty..where have you been living????  Bad fairy puts curse on new born babe and says she will never awake till kissed by a true love when she turns sixteen.  That does not even begin to do this movie justice. I would not spoil this film for you by too much detail.  That is best left for you to see with your  own eyes.  Small children around us were spellbound and so were the adults.  I will own this one.  Out of 10 I will give it a 10 for it deserves no less. The actors in this film were fitted to their roles. The acting was at it`s best.  Give your self a break from the everyday world and go visit fantasyland for two hours.


Cat Says:

We are HUGE Disney fans in this family so it was with great anticipation that we waited for this one to come out. I was doubtful about Angelina Jolie until I saw the first preview and heard her laugh. Perfection! And that is the word for this whole movie and her acting...PERFECTION. 

The movie fleshes out a back story to this very popular Disney villain. How she started out as a fairy, met the future King Stefan and why she would come to hate him and all he loves so very much. But this isn't just a story of revenge. This is a story of young love, betrayal, abuse, revenge, parental love and redemption. Beautifully crafted, beautifully acted, beautifully filmed.
With so many movies relying upon the special effects to really carry the show, this one hands over that responsibility to the actors, namely Jolie, and it couldn't be in better hands. I was riveted by her portrayal. Totally riveted.

The Disney animated tale simply pulls you into christening day, the curse and the implementation of that curse and breaking it. This Disney live action tale goes into Maleficent's childhood, teen years when she meets Stefan, the betrayal and abuse that leads to his ascending the throne at her expense, her anger and revenge the day of the christening (which is one of the highlights of the movie!!! SUCH a great scene!), the child Aurora and Maleficent watching this child grow up and getting to know her and then the spell and breaking of the spell. The tweaks to the story we all grew up with are not huge ones. Prince Philip does arrive and he does seem to be the one for Aurora but his part isn't as big as the animated tale led you to believe. The end will bring the Dragon we all know and love and you won't be disappointed in that animation!

Aurora, played by Elle Fanning, is as light and insipid as the "blessing" by one of the faeries makes her to be but she is also fearless. She is not the main character here, just a chess piece, so her role is to be guided and used as needed. Elle does light and insipid very well but there is no real depth to this Princess. She is a full out ingenue. This bothered our 13 year old a lot and she was his least favorite character. But in the end it's Aurora who saves the day so she's deeper than you may expect from the earlier scenes in the movie. 

Stephan, played by Sharlto Copley, is a fish out of water in his own kingdom...a very ambitious fish. Copley plays this character very subtly so that you get to see how this ambition colors every move Stephan makes...even the truly evil ones. Even in the animated tale you were never very sympathetic to Stefan because you just KNEW he did something to deserve the wrath of Maleficent. Now you get to see what it was and how awful he really was to her. 

A word about that. In social media there has been some talk that the abusive scene that leads to the change in Maleficent is a "rape" scene. It is NOT. What it is IS assault and battery. You don't actually see that onscreen but you do see the aftermath. There is NO love scene, there is NO sex scene, there is NO indication of anything sexual happening between the two characters at ALL. So while Stefan steals her innocence on just how cruel humans can be, even to those they "love", he doesn't steal her sexual innocence. So there is no rape scene in this movie.

In this version you get to see more of the faerie world and that is a lot of fun but these "down" times are the only true weakness of this film. However that is being really, really very picky for just such a great film. We highly enjoyed our time there and would gladly go see it again immediately! 9.5 out of 10 for me.

Parental guidance here: some of the faerie creatures are quite dark and scary. You may want to go see this one yourself first before taking kids under the age of 7 to go see it. No worries, you will want to go see it again anyway! 


Tory Says:

Thanks to my awesome parents, my hubby and I got to see this on a much needed date night. (Our anniversary!) We both have been excited for this movie from the very first poster release…and it did not disappoint.

I have ALWAYS been a huge fan of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty but not really all that interested in Maleficent. She always just seemed like a cool villain and nothing more. This movie changed all that. She was SO much more. This film starts with her as a younger child and continues until past Aurora’s 16^thBirthday.

Angelina Jolie shines as Maleficent. She is in a word perfect! I don’t think there has ever been a more perfect casting in a Disney film. She has the perfect blend of all that Maleficent is! I didn’t find Elle Fanning as convincing but Jolie more than makes up for that. She was born to play this role!

I have never felt that people are either good or evil. I think we all have a bit of both in us but usually more of one than the other. There was so much I adored about this movie but I’m having a hard time putting it into words without giving too much of the story away. I love the connection between Maleficent and Aurora. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting, which was a good thing.

I know it sounds like “oh she just liked the movie” but in reality, it is in my top 10 of all-time favorite films…not just Disney movies but all films. I want to see it again and again. I can’t wait to own it! I feel like all of the things I loved about it, give too much away. The story is wonderful and touching, the graphics are spectacular and if you have teenage kids, I think the whole family would enjoy it. I know of friends who have taken their little ones to see it but I think it would be too scary at parts for them and they won’t really understand the film anyways. My husband loved it as well. I fully give this a 10 out of 10. All I can say is take my word for it. GO SEE IT!     

Million Dollar Arm Rated: PG

Barbara Says:

Real human interest stories are a favorite of mine.  Make believe is great but when something takes place that warms the heart and makes you feel for others, then that's a good movie. Million Dollar Arm is just such a film. Sports agent J B Bernstein in Los Angeles was on the verge of losing his new business and his co-owner was fearful of it too.  While watching the London talent show where he watched some one who looked nothing like what a singer was supposed to look like blow the judges away he was struck with an idea how to save his company of signing sports players .  He couldn't stand cricket but his friend and co worker watched it a lot (he is Indian) and he watched how fast the guys playing it threw the ball. What if they could throw a baseball that fast? So he came up with an idea to go to India and have young people try out to win a million dollars throwing a baseball. Now this is a land of cricket and no one played baseball at all.  JB is played by Jon Hamm doing an awesome job of a man who needs to save his very well off way of living (super model girlfriends and Jag) and completely over looks what he is really doing here.  He finds out of thousands only two young men who can throw at the speeds in the 80`s.  He takes them out of their lives which are nothing like the one they find in America.  JB was driven crazy by bumper to bumper traffic and everyone honking their horns all the time. But think what it would be like for two young men dropped into a life of elevators, swimming pools, room service, smoke alarms, etc. He just abandons them at the hotel with a man he picked up in India who is working for free just because he loves baseball. Of course, trouble comes along when they set off smoke alarms and panic.  So JB is forced to take them home with him.  Alan Arkin plays a scout way past his prime who sleeps most of the time but can hear how fast a ball is traveling even when asleep.  Everyone thought this idea was laughable to begin with but JB had gotten some millionaire to back him. It is very funny watching these guys learn to speak English and try to understand the ways of learning to really play baseball.  It was not an easy road and at times looked to be an awful idea that was not going to work.  But JB learns something about caring for someone other then himself.  The young men, Dinesh and Rinku were eventually signed by the Pirates.  Rinku stills plays for them but Dinesh went back to India and helps with the contest which is still carried out every year.  The man who worked for free coaches baseball players in India now.  It is a film well worth seeing and money well spent.  Out of 10 I give it a 10.

Cat Says:

Whenever I hear that a movie has been "Based on a True Story" I have to go look that story up. What I found is that this is actually fairly close to the real story for these two boys. I also found out what happened after the contest! 

Anyways, Barbara covered the story line so I won't repeat it. However, I will say, as a baseball fan (read: freak) I was thrilled with this film. Yes, it's told from the perspective of the agent but knowing what I do about baseball it was fun to watch this process unfold. Now, having said that, Barbara doesn't like baseball...at all. But she loved this film too. So even if you don't like the game don't let that stop you from getting out and seeing this.

The highlights of this film are the wanna-be Indian Scout who starts to work for JB for free (he's now working for real in India with the sport of baseball as a coach!), the retired coach, played by Alan Arkin, who is simply hysterical but amazing at his job and, of course, the two boys, Rinku (currently out for the 2014 season due to Tommy John surgery but still part of the Pirates organization) and Dinesh who still works with the contest back in India teaching kids baseball. 

The fact that this sport, which I love so much, is now being enjoyed by a whole new country is fantastic, but the fact that this man found out that there is SO much more to life than just money is what Disney is always trying to teach us. This is a 9 out of 10 for me. Not perfect since it does get a bit melodramatic from time to time but very close!